Jazz Transatlantic Volume I

<p>In <em>Jazz Transatlantic Volume I</em> renowned scholar Gerhard Kubik takes the reader across the Atlantic from Africa to the Americas and then back in pursuit of the music we call jazz. This first volume explores the term itself and how jazz has been defined and redefined. It also celebrates the phenomena of jazz performance and uncovers hidden gems of jazz history. The volume offers insights gathered during Kubik's extensive field work and based on in-depth interviews with jazz musicians around the Atlantic world. Languages world views beliefs experiences attitudes and commodities all play a role. Kubik reveals what is most important--the expertise of individual musical innovators on both sides of the Atlantic and hidden relationships in their thoughts.</p><p>Besides the common African origins of much vocabulary and structure all the expressions of jazz in Africa share transatlantic family relationships. Within that framework musicians are creating and re-creating jazz in never-ending contacts and exchanges. The first of two volumes <em>Jazz Transatlantic Volume I</em> examines this transatlantic history sociolinguistics musicology and the biographical study of personalities in jazz during the twentieth century. This volume traces the African and African American influences on the creation of the jazz sound and traces specific African traditions as they transform into American jazz. Kubik seeks to describe the constant mixing of sources and traditions so he includes influences of European music in both volumes. These works will become essential and indelible parts of jazz history.</p>